Here’s the challenge with problem-in-every-opportunity thinking: We become blind to the possibilities the problem presents when we are geared to seeing only, or even primarily, the problem.

What do you do when life painfully crashes and burns and you find yourself scraped, bruised and buried under the weight of disaster and heartache? Do you run and hide? Or do you get up and fight back with all that’s inside of you?

You are limited only by the limits you place on your imagination. But once you open the door to any possibility, you free yourself of self-imposed confines and restrictions.

Sometimes we need a step-by-step how-to manual of 101 Ways to live Happier Lives to get us through the vicissitudes of life. Other times, all we need is a reminder, inspiration to look anew at the old to start making changes. I invite you to begin now to become who you most want to

The truth of the matter is that the mind records all it experiences. Add sharp emotion to the experience, and you have a recipe for an elephant-like memory of the nitty gritty. So can forgetting the acts of others against us truly be forgotten? Not likely. So what could the admonition to forgive and forget really mean then?

To say I’ve been unfocused in the wilderness of new ideas is an understatement. But as the old proverb goes, if you chase two rabbits, you won’t catch either one. I would add that if you’re chasing 20 rabbits, a raccoon and a squirrel or two, you might as well say goodbye to everything else you used to do. And so am simplifying the online clutter I’ve been creating of late. See how…

It’s my birthday today and was going to post another installment of “Things you don’t know about me” when I decided on a whim to share my personal happiness story with you instead. Here are 22 reasons I’m happy.

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” ~T.S. Eliot Are you on a path that does Read More.

Failure is inevitable for anyone willing to chase bold and hairy dreams. It is the universe correcting our misuse of energy. It is one way we learn there is a better way to allocate our personal assets and resources.

Today is a blank canvas waiting for you to paint your personal masterpiece onto it. It is your unfinished Sistine Chapel, your David and Mona Lisa. This very day is waiting to be fashioned and formed into something beautiful, breathtaking and sublime.

Hope is the light that glimmers in the dark of the unknown. It is the flicker of possibility in the murky depths of the impossible. It is the reason we kneel in prayer and work to improve our lives and volunteer to help others. It is why we wake up and move forward and dream of better days.

It’s been said that courage is the point at which all other virtues are tested. And indeed, there are not many virtues that will not be tested at some point and in some way. Our patience, trust, kindness, compassion, perseverance, and other personal virtues will hit that wall, push up against that moment, that set of conditions or that person who will push you to the edge.

A well-known motivational guru was once challenged about the very idea of motivation. His antagonist complained that motivation doesn’t work because it doesn’t last. It wears off, so can’t be all the guru suggested it was …

Why do some people get crushed by difficulty, like so many boulders smashing the life and kindness right out of them? Why do they turn bitter and sour and hateful, while others rise to the occasion and come out better than before?

We all like green pastures and blue skies. We like downhill paths and couches with remote controls and tests where the teacher shouts out the answers as we take them. But we also know that such things don’t require much from us and that things that don’t require much tend to inspire, build and produce just as little.

When life gets dark and difficult, when it gets dim and murky, when I’m disillusioned or frustrated or down, there are things I can do to feel better. But one source of strength rises to the top of the list for me.

Instead of trying to cram the messy abundance of life into neat little packaged moments of perfection, learn to laugh at the unpredictable and smile at the inopportune.

I remember hearing a story of a pig who thought he was a man. The other barn animals laughed him to scorn, held up pictures and diagrams to demonstrate quite clearly, and beyond refute, that the pig was indeed just a pig. Then the pig walked out of the barn, shook his head in disbelief, and drove off in his red convertible.

People will disappoint you. Be happy anyway. Life will throw you off your plans. Be happy anyway. Others will lie and lead you astray. Be happy anyway.

Why do we wait for anniversaries to celebrate marriage? Why do we wait for birthdays to celebrate births? And why do we wait for funerals to celebrate life? Why wait for the day of the event or the end of a life to celebrate what we could be celebrating daily?